For terminology purposes of this application, we will use the term “ski boat” (occasionally “sport ski boat”) to refer to any watercraft that falls within the common understanding of a ski boat, a sport ski boat (also known as “sport/ski” or “sport-ski” boats), a tow boat, or any comparable watercraft such as are designed and used for towing recreational or competition water skiers, barefooters, kites, wakeboarders, or tubers, irrespective of whether a particular boat is ever actually used for such purposes, and even though such boats may instead be used for other purposes such as fishing, cruising, patrolling, transport or the like.
Most ski boats, whether powered by inboard or outboard motors, utilize at least two relatively standard systems for the control of the boat and its propulsion system—a steering system and an engine throttle/shift system. Design and performance of the throttle/shift system faces a surprisingly complex array of challenges, not the least of which has long been the difficulty of providing a system that can be controlled to interface with the propulsion system in a way that enables easy, accurate and reliable changes in boat speed in all conditions. So often, what is intended as a slight speed adjustment produces an inordinate reaction from the propulsion system which is all the more exacerbated by the operator's typical overcorrection in response. Harsh weather or choppy seas typically make the commensurate problems worse. In addition to typical challenges at low speeds, most marine propulsion systems also have less-predictable speed ranges where it is more difficult to achieve small changes in the speed by adjusting the throttle position.
Cruise control systems can sometimes help at greater speeds, but a ski boat operator experiences a secondary challenge when, in the moment, he wants to slightly adjust the “set” speed for the cruise control. Existing cruise control adjustment mechanisms are nice, but they are not intuitive enough. Too often, what starts in the operator's mind as a desire to slightly adjust the cruise speed instead results in a sequence of adjusting, disengaging, adjusting, reengaging, disengaging, etc. As a result of these and other operator challenges, an operator cannot easily and intuitively adjust the cruise control speed once it has been set, and better controls have long been needed.
Many other problems, obstacles, limitations and challenges of the prior art will be evident to those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the prior art.